Family Medicine

Family Medicine Services

We offer a variety of services for the entire family including on-site lab facilities for cholesterol and other blood screening tests. Click on the sections below to learn more more:

Please note: not all services are provided at all family medicine clinics, check with your clinic in advance.

Family Medicine

  • Newborn Exams
  • Well-Child Exams
  • ADD/ADHD
  • Obesity & Nutrition
  • Sports Injuries
  • Sports physicals
  • Immunizations
  • Depression & mood issues
  • Asthma & respiratory conditions
  • Diabetes Management
  • Migraines
  • Minor Injuries
  • Nutrition Assessment
  • Incontinence
  • Fall Risk Assessment
  • Transition to nursing home
  • Referrals for bone density testing
  • Alzheimers & Dementia

Behavioral Services/Social Work

We offer primary mental health care and social services at all of our clinic locations. Appointments can be scheduled through those clinics or by calling (409) 772-2166 or (409) 772-2222.
  • Well-Male exams
  • Consultation for health risk factors
  • Screening exams for prostate health
  • STD Screening
  • Asthma
  • Diabetes
  • High cholesterol
  • Minor injuries
  • Obesity and nutrition
  • Alzheimers/Dementia
  • Migraines
  • High blood pressure
  • Heart disease
  • Respiratory conditions
  • Depression and anxiety
  • In-clinic procedures
  • Arthritis
  • Smoking Cessation
  • Cyst excision
  • Suturing
  • Skin biopsy
  • Gynecological biopsies
  • IUD insertion/removal
  • Joint injection/aspiration
  • Pap Smears
  • Colonoscopy referrals
  • Wound & Abscess Care
  • Skin tag removal
  • Cryosurgery
  • Ingrown toenail removal
  • Impanon and other birth control methods
  • Colposcopy
  • Splinting
  • Well-woman exams
  • Pap Smears
  • Breast exams
  • Mammogram referrals
  • STD Screening
  • Colposcopy Exams
  • Maternity care and Childbirth
  • Breastfeeding Support
  • Birth Control including IUD's and implantable devices
  • Bone density test referrals
  • Endometrial Biopsies
chronicdisease

Our team of healthcare professionals in our Family Medicine Clinics put you at the center of your care by offering you a medical home that is accessible when you need it. We are currently expanding our hours of service to better serve our patients.

Please note our EXTENDED HOURS below:

  • Dickinson: Mondays until 7:30 am-7 pm; Tuesday-Friday 7:30 am-5:30 pm
  • Island East: Thursdays until 7 pm
  • Island West: Tuesdays until 7 pm and Saturdays 9 am to noon
Common Chronic Diseases we help our patients control and manage:

Family Medicine

Commonly known as a heart attack, is a condition that occurs when blood flow to a part of your heart is blocked for a long enough time that part of the heart muscle is damaged or dies. Most heart attacks are caused by a blood clot that blocks one of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries bring blood and oxygen to the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, the heart is starved of oxygen and heart cells die.
A balloon-like bulge in an artery. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to your body.

An aneurysm can grow large and rupture (burst) or dissect. A rupture causes dangerous bleeding inside the body. A dissection is a split in one or more layers of the artery wall. The split causes bleeding into and along the layers of the artery wall.
Stable angina is chest pain or discomfort that usually occurs with activity or stress. Angina is chest discomfort due to poor blood flow through the blood vessels in the heart. 
A medical term used to describe a form of high blood pressure that tends to develop slowly and may not cause any noticeable symptoms for a number of years. Due to the slow progression of this disease, it is difficult to diagnose and may cause gradual damage to various organs of the body. Mild symptoms, such as headache or nausea, may be present before this condition is diagnosed, but these symptoms are often explained away as having some other cause. Once benign hypertension is diagnosed, treatment usually consists of a combination of dietary changes, lifestyle modification, and perhaps the use of prescription medications. 
One type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The inflamed bronchi produce a lot of mucus. This leads to cough and difficulty getting air in and out of the lungs. Cigarette smoking is the most common cause. Breathing in other fumes and dusts over a long period of time may also cause chronic bronchitis. Treatment will help your symptoms, but chronic bronchitis is a long-term condition that keeps coming back or never goes away completely.

One of the most common lung diseases. It makes it difficult to breathe. There are two main forms of COPD: Chronic bronchitis, which involves a long-term cough with mucus; Emphysema, which involves destruction of the lungs over time.

Read about UTMB’s Advanced Center of Excellence in COPD designation.
The most common type of heart disease. It is the leading cause of death in the United States in both men and women.

CAD happens when the arteries that supply blood to heart muscle become hardened and narrowed. This is due to the buildup of cholesterol and other material, called plaque, on their inner walls. This buildup is called atherosclerosis. As it grows, less blood can flow through the arteries. As a result, the heart muscle can't get the blood or oxygen it needs. This can lead to chest pain (angina) or a heart attack. Most heart attacks happen when a blood clot suddenly cuts off the hearts' blood supply, causing permanent heart damage.

Over time, CAD can also weaken the heart muscle and contribute to heart failure and arrhythmias. Heart failure means the heart can't pump blood well to the rest of the body. Arrhythmias are changes in the normal beating rhythm of the heart.
A group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst), and polyphagia (increased hunger).

There are three main types of diabetes mellitus (DM).

- Type 1 DM results from the body's failure to produce insulin, and currently requires the person to inject insulin or wear an insulin pump. This form was previously referred to as "insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus" (IDDM) or "juvenile diabetes".

- Type 2 DM results from insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes combined with an absolute insulin deficiency. This form was previously referred to as non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or "adult-onset diabetes".

- The third main form, gestational diabetes, occurs when pregnant women without a previous diagnosis of diabetes develop a high blood glucose level. It may precede development of type 2 DM.

Left untreated, diabetes can cause many severe health complications.
A type of COPD involving damage to the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. As a result, your body does not get the oxygen it needs. Emphysema makes it hard to catch your breath. You may also have a chronic cough and have trouble breathing during exercise.

The most common cause is cigarette smoking. If you smoke, quitting can help prevent you from getting the disease. If you already have emphysema, not smoking might keep it from getting worse. Treatment is based on whether your symptoms are mild, moderate or severe. Treatments include inhalers, oxygen, medications and sometimes surgery to relieve symptoms and prevent complications.
A condition characterized by very high levels of cholesterol in the blood. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is produced in the body and obtained from foods that come from animals (particularly egg yolks, meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products). The body needs this substance to build cell membranes, make certain hormones, and produce compounds that aid in fat digestion. Too much cholesterol, however, increases a person's risk of developing heart disease.
Simply means too many lipids – or fats – in the blood. That can cover many conditions, but for most people, it comes down to two better-known terms: high cholesterol and high triglycerides. Hyperlipidemia can be reversible in many cases through healthy eating and regular exercise.
Commonly known as high blood pressure, sometimes called arterial hypertension, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. Blood pressure is summarised by two measurements, systolic and diastolic, which depend on whether the heart muscle is contracting (systole) or relaxed between beats (diastole). This equals the maximum and minimum pressure, respectively. Normal blood pressure at rest is within the range of 100-140mmHg systolic (top reading) and 60-90mmHg diastolic (bottom reading). High blood pressure is said to be present if it is often at or above 140/90 mmHg.
A condition characterized by the narrowing of blood vessels. When arteries are severely constricted and blood flow is diminished, the body’s cells are deprived of nutrients and oxygen. The heart or brain might suffer if the ischemia is located in those regions. If this condition occurs outside these areas, it manifests as peripheral artery disease. Stroke, heart attack and dementia are some of the possible outcomes of this disease.   
A very common condition affecting 12-20 percent of Americans age 65 and older. PVD develops most commonly as a result of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which occurs when cholesterol and scar tissue build up, forming a substance called plaque inside the arteries. This is a very serious condition. The clogged arteries cause decreased blood flow to the legs, which can result in pain when walking, and eventually gangrene and amputation.
Sometimes referred to as a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), is the rapid loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain.
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Family Medicine Locations

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For appointments please call the clinic phone number or visit our  appointment page. When you schedule your appointment, please be ready to provide your insurance information. Also, please try to arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment time to help avoid delays. Payment of any co-pay is due prior to initiation of the visit. If you are running late to an appointment, please call us, as we may be able to find another appointment time on the same day. Following these steps helps us to ensure that you are seen in a timely and effective manner.
UTMB Health offers a number of sites with extended hours and urgent care on evening and weekends, as well as four emergency rooms. If you need assistance after hours, please call the Access Center at (409) 772-2222 or toll free at (800) 917-8906. If you have a medical emergency,  please dial 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
We want you to be aware of all results of labs/tests done through our office, and it is our practice to communicate those results to you. It generally takes one to two weeks for us to receive the results and have the physician review them. Once the physician reviews your lab/test results he or she will notify you by mail, phone or at the time of your next follow-up appointment.
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As a result of your visit to our clinic, you may be randomly selected to receive a Medical Practice Survey in the mail. If you do receive one of these surveys, we would appreciate it if you completed the form and returned it using the self addressed envelope. The postage is free, the survey is quick and easy. Our goal is to exceed your expectations and to always provide you great service. Use the survey to let us know how we're doing.
If you need a refill of a prescription, please call your pharmacy first. Many of the pharmacies now have an online refill request, which is sent directly to our office. This allows us to process your refill more efficiently. Prescriptions are not processed after hours, so please allow 48 business hours from the time of your request to the time it is filled. Medications that require prior authorization from your insurance company may take up to one week.

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